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Cryo-electron Microscopy

Cryo-electron Microscopy

Conventional electron microscopy (EM) involves dehydration, fixation, and staining of biological samples, which distorts the native state of biological molecules and results in several artifacts. Also, the high-energy electron beam damages the sample and makes it difficult to obtain high-resolution images. These issues can be addressed using cryo-EM, which uses frozen samples and gentler electron beams. The technique was developed by Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank, and Richard Henderson, for...

Electron Microscope Tomography and Single-particle Reconstruction

Electron Microscope Tomography and Single-particle Reconstruction

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) can be used to determine the 3D structure of biological samples with the help of techniques such as electron microscope tomography and single-particle reconstruction. While single-particle reconstruction can examine macromolecules and macromolecular complexes in vitro conditions only, tomography permits the study of cell components or small cells in vivo.
Electron Tomography
Electron tomography can be performed either in TEM or STEM (scanning transmission...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 7, 2026

A Robust Single-Particle Cryo-Electron Microscopy cryo-EM Processing Workflow with cryoSPARC, RELION, and Scipion

A Robust Single-Particle Cryo-Electron Microscopy cryo-EM Processing Workflow with cryoSPARC, RELION, and Scipion

Published on: January 31, 2022

cryoSPARC: algorithms for rapid unsupervised cryo-EM structure determination.

Ali Punjani¹, John L Rubinstein^2,3,4, David J Fleet¹

¹Department of Computer Science, The University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

|February 7, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

New algorithms dramatically accelerate single-particle electron cryomicroscopy (cryo-EM) data processing. This enables rapid, automated 3D structure determination and heterogeneity analysis on standard computers.

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Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Mar 7, 2026

A Robust Single-Particle Cryo-Electron Microscopy cryo-EM Processing Workflow with cryoSPARC, RELION, and Scipion

A Robust Single-Particle Cryo-Electron Microscopy cryo-EM Processing Workflow with cryoSPARC, RELION, and Scipion

Published on: January 31, 2022

Single Particle Cryo-Electron Microscopy: From Sample to Structure

Single Particle Cryo-Electron Microscopy: From Sample to Structure

Published on: May 29, 2021

Routine Collection of High-Resolution cryo-EM Datasets Using 200 KV Transmission Electron Microscope

Routine Collection of High-Resolution cryo-EM Datasets Using 200 KV Transmission Electron Microscope

Published on: March 16, 2022

Area of Science:

Structural biology
Biophysics
Computational biology

Background:

Single-particle electron cryomicroscopy (cryo-EM) is vital for determining biological macromolecular structures.
Automated cryo-EM data acquisition is fast, but processing remains a significant bottleneck.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop faster and more accessible methods for cryo-EM data processing.
To enable automated 3D structure determination and heterogeneity analysis without expert intervention or bias.

Main Methods:

Implementation of stochastic gradient descent (SGD) and branch-and-bound maximum likelihood optimization algorithms.
Development of cryoSPARC, a user-friendly software integrating these algorithms.
Utilizing SGD with Bayesian marginalization for ab initio 3D classification.

Main Results:

Major cryo-EM structure determination steps are reduced from weeks to hours or minutes.
Processing can be performed on inexpensive desktop computers, democratizing access.
Automated ab initio 3D classification enables unbiased discovery of novel structures.

Conclusions:

Novel algorithms significantly accelerate and simplify cryo-EM structure determination.
cryoSPARC software provides an efficient, automated solution for analyzing cryo-EM data.
These advancements facilitate broader access to high-resolution structural biology insights.